National

A magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck about 100 miles off the Northern California coast on Thursday morning, according to the U.S. Geological Survey . The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the earthquake, originally reported to have a magnitude of 6.8, wasn't powerful enough to generate a destructive tsunami. No damage or injuries were reported. The epicenter was relatively close to the surface — about 7.5 miles down — and its effects were felt especially by residents in the town of Ferndale,...

The U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS says it carried out an airstrike on a hospital complex in the Iraqi city of Mosul at the request of Iraq's military. Air Force Col. John L. Dorrian, the spokesman for Operation Inherent Resolve, told reporters that the coalition did not "have any reason to believe civilians were harmed." However, when specifically asked whether there were patients at the city's main hospital, Dorrian said that was "very difficult to ascertain with full and total fidelity."...

For the first Somali-American lawmaker in the U.S., it was meant to be a day to remember: a visit to the White House for policy meetings before she takes office in Minnesota. But as she left the seat of U.S. power, Ilhan Omar says, she was subjected to a hateful and threatening verbal attack in a cab. "I pray for his humanity and for all those who harbor hate in their hearts," Omar, a Muslim who wears a head scarf, wrote of the cab driver who she says assailed her. In a Facebook post , she...

Two juveniles have been arrested and charged with arson for allegedly starting the fire that killed at least 14 people in east Tennessee last month. They might be tried as adults, and authorities say there might be more arrests. Prosecutors say the two minors started a fire on Nov. 23, according to a statement from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation . Feeding off a drought-stricken forest, the Chimney Tops 2 fire grew inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. On Nov. 28, it swept...

Diana Kennedy, often called the "Julia Child of Mexico," is a woman of strong preferences. She loves good butter and cream, Seville orange marmalade, black truffle shavings and escamoles (a caviar that comes from ant eggs). She hates the use of cassia (false cinnamon) in place of the real thing, canola oil, low- or non-fat dairy products, and nonstick pans. And don't get her started on kosher salt, which despite being the "beloved salt of virtually all American chefs," as she writes in

There are plenty of recent stories involving white police officers who have shot and killed black men, including some who are on trial for those shootings. Then there's the case of a white cop who did not shoot a black man holding a gun — and it may have cost him his job. It started with a 911 call for help in Weirton, W.Va., on May 6 at 2:51 a.m. An emergency dispatcher in turn put out a call for an officer. "Had a female stating they needed someone right now. She sounded...

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid will give his farewell address Thursday on the Senate floor. The Nevada Democrat has served in Congress for 30 years, and as his party's leader in the Senate for 12. Reid tells Morning Edition's Rachel Martin that he — and many other Americans — are still anxious about the incoming Trump administration, but he sees reasons for optimism as well. "I've learned to accept the Trump election," he says. Interview Highlights On...

One of the fundamental ways scientists measure the well-being of a nation is tracking the rate at which its citizens die and how long they can be expected to live. So the news out of the federal government Thursday is disturbing: The overall U.S. death rate has increased for the first time in a decade, according to an analysis of the latest data. And that led to a drop in overall life expectancy for the first time since 1993, particularly among people younger than 65. "This is a big deal,"...

Fake news played a bigger role in this past presidential election than ever seen before. And sometimes it has had serious repercussions for real people and businesses. That's what happened to a pizzeria in Washington, D.C., recently, when an armed man claiming to be "self-investigating" a fake news story entered the restaurant and fired off several rounds. But once a fake news story is out there, and the harm has been done, what can a person do about it? Derigan Silver, a professor of media,...

Smoke hung in the air for days in Oakland's largely Latino Fruitvale district after a deadly fire broke out late Friday night in an artists' warehouse, leaving 36 people dead . Like so much of the city, it's a neighborhood facing ripples of gentrification created by the tech boom in the Bay Area, which now has some of the highest rents in the country. Carmen Brito lived in the now destroyed warehouse known as the Ghost Ship. She barely got out with her life. "You can go three blocks, and you...